German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) Halle-Jena-Leipzig, Deutscher Platz 5e, 04103 Leipzig, Germany; Institute of Biology, Leipzig University, Deutscher Platz 5e, 04103 Leipzig, Germany; Institute of Landscape Ecology, University of Münster, Heisenbergstrasse 2, 48149 Münster, Germany.
Institute of Plant Sciences, University of Bern, Altenbergrain 21, 3013 Bern, Switzerland.
Trends Ecol Evol. 2018 Mar;33(3):186-197. doi: 10.1016/j.tree.2017.12.007. Epub 2018 Jan 8.
Relating biodiversity to ecosystem functioning in natural communities has become a paramount challenge as links between trophic complexity and multiple ecosystem functions become increasingly apparent. Yet, there is still no generalised approach to address such complexity in biodiversity-ecosystem functioning (BEF) studies. Energy flux dynamics in ecological networks provide the theoretical underpinning of multitrophic BEF relationships. Accordingly, we propose the quantification of energy fluxes in food webs as a powerful, universal tool for understanding ecosystem functioning in multitrophic systems spanning different ecological scales. Although the concept of energy flux in food webs is not novel, its application to BEF research remains virtually untapped, providing a framework to foster new discoveries into the determinants of ecosystem functioning in complex systems.
在自然群落中，将生物多样性与生态系统功能联系起来已经成为一个至关重要的挑战，因为营养复杂性与多种生态系统功能之间的联系变得越来越明显。然而，在生物多样性-生态系统功能（BEF）研究中，仍然没有一种通用的方法来解决这种复杂性。生态网络中的能量通量动态为多营养级 BEF 关系提供了理论基础。因此，我们提出将食物网中的能量通量量化作为理解跨越不同生态尺度的多营养级系统中生态系统功能的有力、通用工具。尽管食物网中能量通量的概念并不新颖，但它在 BEF 研究中的应用几乎尚未开发，为探索复杂系统中生态系统功能的决定因素提供了一个框架。
